Plane near drone found at German airport was carrying ammunition, media reports say

A Ukrainian cargo aircraft at Leipzig/Halle airport was found to be carrying military ammunition, raising concerns about a potential hybrid attack after a high-grade military explosive-laden drone was discovered nearby.

A Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked near an explosive-laden drone found at Germany's Leipzig/Halle airport on Tuesday night was carrying a payload of military ammunition, ‌a group of news outlets including Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday. Forensic experts found that the explosives attached to the drone were of a high military grade, said the joint report, which was also carried by broadcasters NDR and WDR and cited a confidential police ‌report. Those findings potentially raise the stakes in a widening counterterrorism investigation of the incident at an airport serving as a ‌major cargo and military logistics hub that the German government has designated as critical infrastructure. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said late on Wednesday that the drone incident constituted a hybrid attack and an elevated level of danger. Police in the state of Saxony, where Leipzig/Halle is located, did not immediately respond ⁠to a ​request for comment on the media ⁠reports of the Ukrainian aircraft's military payload. German authorities, meanwhile, said on Thursday they were continuing the search for debris of an unidentified object that damaged ⁠another freight jet mid-air near Leipzig airport on the same night. INCIDENTS DISRUPT ONE OF GERMANY'S MAIN LOGISTICS HUBS The drone was found close ​to several Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo airplanes, among the world's biggest freighters, according to earlier media reports. The cargo jet that ⁠struck the unidentified object was performing a go-around due to the closure of one of the airport's runways. It was lightly damaged in the collision ⁠and ​eventually landed in Hanover in northern Germany.

Flights were suspended and several aircraft, including some operated by German logistics group DHL, were diverted late on Tuesday. A spokesperson for Leipzig/Halle airport, which is also used by companies like Lufthansa Cargo and Amazon.com , said ⁠on Thursday that operations were back to normal and no additional security measures had been implemented. While German authorities have said ⁠the perpetrators of the incidents at ⁠the airport had not yet been identified, Roderich Kiesewetter, a lawmaker and a member of the parliamentary intelligence committee, blamed Russia directly.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin did not respond to ‌an emailed request for ‌comment from Reuters.